Karl-Heinz
Marotzke, then personal technical adviser to Joao Havelange, the FIFA
President, told the SA media: ‘I am appealing to the government and sponsors to
go and have a look at what is happening in Orlando. I have seen the best
football schools in South America, Germany, Mexico and France, but this centre
is unique – the only one of this kind in the world’.
Jabu
Pule (Mahlangu), on his day, could reduce even the most experienced of
defenders to an immature. Think the late Scara Ngobese, and many other highly
skilled players who graced the Premier Soccer League. South Africa, while it is
far behind in international football, could have instead been far ahead of the
world. To continue with our ‘STATE OF SA SPORTS’ SERIES - A MORE OBJECTIVE VIEW
IN RESPONSE TO TIM NOAKES’ ANALYSIS OF THE STATE OF SA FOOTBALL (SA SPORT IS
RUN DOWN), it becomes clear as day that the opportunity to lead the world was
excruciatingly ignored. Were there significant attempts, either from local
sources or outside the country, to influence the course of SA football for the
better?
A
review of such interventions brings up more perplexity. As early as 1988, the
South African Soccer Academy, sponsored by the SAB, produced a renewed
programme for the development of coaches and referees based on the new
technical realities of international sport performance. The content and
practical solutions of those programmes were strictly defined according to
SA-specificity and the needs for successful international participation. In
1989, experts from Germany and Brazil were invited to SA to evaluate the
programmes.
Their
response to the technical evaluation of the projects, particularly the coaching
programme, certified the merits and advanced approach to competitive football.
Before being irrationally closed down in 1994, the SA Soccer Academy, with very
limited resources, offered workshops to 128 local coaches and 85 teachers.
Seven coaches were employed by professional clubs while four were appointed as
national coaches at the youth and senior levels.
Eight
coaches were sent for further instruction to Brazil and Holland. In 1990, 1992
and 1993 three of the most reputable coaching experts from FIFA, Brazil and
Germany conducted seminars on the latest technical developments for the SA
Soccer Academy. Since then no similar development initiatives have occurred in
SA football.
By
the beginning of 1990, the SA Soccer Academy produced ‘the first in the world’
complete training methodology for SA youth. The innovative concept comprised
six programmes for game specific development and two complementary loco-motor
and physical ability enhancement programmes, including novelties on moderate
resistance training. Previous pertinent research and experiments in Eastern
Europe assisted in designing the concept. With the invaluable support of
‘Chibuku’ – the main sponsor at that time of the SA Soccer Academy, a pilot
youth centre was established at Orlando Stadium with the participation of 65
youngsters.
After
two years, by 1992, the centre became an international attraction as the
results in the development of the youngsters were recognized by leading foreign
experts. In 1991, a television crew, specially assigned by the French national
broadcaster to record the training programme at the centre, produced a football
documentary that was received with exceptional interest and appreciation in Europe.
Immediately,
following this event, Karl-Heinz Marotzke, then personal technical adviser to
Joao Havelange, the FIFA President, told the SA media: ‘I am appealing to the
government and sponsors to go and have a look at what is happening in Orlando.
I have seen the best football schools in South America, Germany, Mexico and
France, but this centre is unique – the only one of this kind in the world’.
At
the same time the youth football academies in England were flourishing but
former England international, Paul Parker, who was part of an English
delegation visiting the centre, remarked: ‘We haven’t got anything like this
back in England, and we are an established soccer nation. Based on what I see
here, South Africa would be serious challengers at events like the World Cup’.
A year later, the centre ceased to exist. There was no local interest to
continue and expand the ‘world first’ youth development programme despite the
fact that 23 youngsters were promoted to high performance echelons.
The
trend of total indifference regarding technical development in local football
did not change even when such prolific ideas impressed the rest of the world.
Notably, the training methodology and specialized equipment utilized at the
‘Chibuku’ youth centre in 1992 is, today, still in many ways superior to what
other similar concepts employed anywhere else could offer.
The
most intriguing case of technical ignorance is the project that took the
innovative concept and training methodology employed at the ‘Chubuku’ youth
centre to a higher level, at the School of Excellence. The school was
established at the initiative of the SA Soccer Academy in 1994, with the
sponsorship from Transnet. It was a logical step towards preparing the best
talent for high performance football. The football programme at the school was
equipped with possibly the most effective training solutions that could address
the very specific particularities of SA youth. Again, the innovative nature of
the project was widely appreciated.
Experts
from African counties, France, Brazil, Holland, Germany and England referred to
the school as ‘an excellent pioneer concept’ in addressing the highly complex aspects of SA and African
youth – unique predispositions for ball skills, body size/limitations,
nutrition, game mentality and living/social conditions. The Hi-Tech methodology
developed specifically for the school, soon demonstrated unparalleled success.
Johnny Warren, an Australian and FIFA-qualified coaching instructor, assessing
the quality of the programme at school said: ‘One thing is certain; if there
were an under-12 World Cup, these boys would win it. With this kind of
development SA soccer will be world beaters in no time’
These
qualified assessments of the school programme were strongly reinforced by
remarkable results. Affording only a limited number of youngsters and
restricted by insufficient funds, the school produced 85 players for the
professional clubs, 36 members of the youth national teams and 16 players for
the senior national team. Currently, the school is experiencing severe
financial difficulties while the exemplary technical standards applied before
in the coaching programme have collapsed. Instead of using this highly
successful example of talent fulfilment, disseminating its unique training
solutions and expanding the concept through all the provinces, the opposite
occurred. Ignoring the merits and benefits of the most successful development
project in the country defies common sense.
One
can only wonder where South African football could have been had our best
talents, in the likes of Jabu Pule (Mahlangu), the late Scara Ngobese, Patrick
Mbuthu, and a plethora of many other stars who could only be stars in local
circles, benefited from such advanced development programs. Sadly, the trend
still continues to this day.
Series to be continued…
Send
us your thoughts… editor@maximalfootball.com
By Maximal Football
Editor
Original story: http://goo.gl/rasN1
